This book starts out with hope: humanity has come to its senses and is trying to repair the environmental devastations of the last centuries, and may be on a good track to do so before the consequences become extinction-level.

And then the aliens show up, tell the humans that there's no fixing things, there was NEVER a chance of fixing things, and they need to leave Earth immediately.

Humanity is, as you can imagine...divided. Most fear a trick. Those in the watersheds want to stay and continue their repair work. And then...there are the corporations..

Oh. And there's also the humans who looked at the aliens themselves and thought "nice, nice...how do I date them?" And I really appreciate that. Emrys truly understands human nature. XD

A central theme of this book is family, and Emrys makes this far more interesting by envisioning the Family of the Future, and a few different versions. Our narrator is in a 4-parent household (with varying levels of intimacy between adult members), and this seems to be a very common arrangement in the watersheds. In the corporations, daycares seem in charge of most of the child rearing, but there is still a "family home," and it is considered completely inviolable. No work-from-home, just family. And then there are the alien families, both with regard to how a species as a whole operates, and also how a dual-species family works. It's fascinating to see what each group thinks of the other, and how they can highlight pros and cons to all styles.

Mostly, this is a story of black-and-white morality, with the very smallest tinges of gray to make things interesting. For the most part, the environmentalist humans are Very Good, and the corporation humans are Very Bad. (This is a take I am willing to forgive, though, given how Very, Very Bar a lot of the top corporations are for the environment in present day.) Our protagonist has a bit of a hiccup in morality, and there are some tense bits when violence seems imminent, but this book is much more talk than action.

But the talk is enjoyable, and the world is well-developed. I can only hope that, when aliens come to visit us, that they will be half so interesting and understanding.

And dateable.

Advanced audiobook copy provided by the publisher.

**I received an Audio Review Copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Ruthanna Emrys presents her newest scifi novel, A Half-Built Garden. Readers follow Judy as she accidentally becomes the human who engages in first contact with two alien species. The aliens have said they have come to rescue humans from Earth, which is sure to die. Judy, a member of the Chesapeake Watershed, has different opinions about humans' ability to ensure their planet's survival.

I find it incredibly difficult to summarize this book because Emrys covered so many topics over the span of the novel. In that same vein, the plot of this novel wasn't what struck me as most important. The exchange of culture, of identity, of how one establishes identity, and of family is undeniably what struck me as the most compelling part of this novel. Emrys addresses gender and sexuality as well as various other aspects of identity through human and alien cultural exchange. The topics are handled with such care.

I typically do not enjoy books concerning child bearing, rearing, or other related topics. However, Emrys presented these aspects as so culturally relevant and with so much respect for the trans character involved in the rearing of the children that I found this book did not bother me on that front. I also found that each of the main characters were well developed and that Emrys took the time to establish them as the individuals they were whether they were alien or human, which is something that was imperative to this novel being as solid as it was.

The narrator, Kate Handford, really did contribute to my enjoyment. Her performance gave appropriate emotional weight to Emrys' words while also keeping the book moving even in parts that might have otherwise been slow.

I really did enjoy my time with this book and can see where this might appeal to fans of Becky Chambers with her slower, character-driven take on scifi. I am eager to explore Emrys' backlist while I wait for future publications.

While intrigued by the premise and hoping that this novel would see me re-enter a science fiction kick, I found myself DNFing this story around 15% into the tale. What happens to the characters are clear however motivation and the building of connection between protagonist and reader is lacking.

It's so smart and interesting and socially conscious (like a Becky Chambers Wayfarers book for adults and without the actual wayfaring), but there wasn't much of anything as far as actual plot goes. So much of the book is dialogue that I just kind of felt my eyes glazing over. I wanted more of a present conflict, or at the very least pretty prose to distract me from the fact that not much was happening.

This book is probably fantastic, but I'm just impatient.

A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys

I requested this book from Netgalley based on the recommendation of Seanan McGuire, one of my favorite authors who often recommends books on Twitter that I end up liking. It’s billed as a new take on a first contact story, which I was really in the mood for - I feel like I’m reading a lot more fantasy lately and not enough science fiction. Which is not to say I don’t enjoy fantasy, I do! But science fiction is where my heart lies, and between Hugo reading and other stuff, I realized I’m reading a lot more fantasy than science fiction and I miss spaceships and robots. A Half-Built Garden doesn’t have any robots, it it has some cool spaceships in it so that’s a win!

But seriously- the main conceit in the book is that a near-future Earth is just barely climbing it’s way out of a climate crisis, and traditional governments and corporations don’t hold the same kind of sway they used to - at least not everywhere. Instead there are a number of environmental reclamation zones that are self-governed by a mixture of leading edge science and Reddit-style consensus. The Earth stuff alone is fascinating and well-written and I could’ve devoured another 200 pages of backstory here. But into this world lands an alien ship making contact - these aliens destroyed their world and live on a ringworld and are seeking out other life forms to rescue them from what they believe is the inevitable doom of a planetary existence. The rub is that humanity is divided - the corporations are ready to jump ship and strip mine a whole new solar system, while the protagonists want to have a chance to actually finish fixing the earth and don’t want to be forced to leave.

This was a truly wonderful book. I even enjoyed the parts I didn’t like - for example, I found the multiparty-marriage setup of the protagonists to be off putting and unpleasant- mainly because the narrator and her primary wife seemed to have rushed into it and it didn’t feel like a fully realized, vibrant relationship. I also felt like the corporate presentation veered towards caricature on occasions. But overall the story felt honest and loving and kind and just what I wonted. It was also nice to see a Jewish protagonist that actually felt Jewish. Representation matters, and I always like to feel like there is a place for me in this genre.

Thanks to MacMillian Audio and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This audiobook was excellent! Sometimes lately I find narrators too slow for me and I need to speed them up, but not here! The narrator was excellent.

a fantastic and original first alien contact story, happy i listened too it for the great world building and sci-fi of it all, with lots of family and pronoun / gender discussions. lead characters are strong protagonists. however like others the pronoun subplot got way too invovled in the flow of the story - it started off as interesting piece of world building relating to a set group of humans and aliens, but did feel too heavy handed. ending was also drug out. i feel like a good solid 50 pages atleast could have been trimmed to make the story much tighter, flowing better.
narrator did a wonderful job!
thank you to NetGalley and TOR.com for a ALC of the audiobook.

In the not so distant future. aliens land on earth and bring with them an offer: join them among the stars to escape the dying earth. Except the aliens aren't up to date on the latest developments on Earth. Humans have begun the slow process of reversing their negative impact- making decisions collectively and making sure no choices are made selfishly or for the benefit of the few. So begins the diplomatic meetings over how to move forward with these new options. In addition to the aliens not understanding why the humans would want to damn themselves by staying on Earth.

The entire premise of this book was so interesting. The world building at the beginning was comprehensive and exciting, but the further the story progressed, the more tedious it got- in one aspect in particular. I appreciate the inclusion of pronouns discussions. But at one point the discussion became preachy and overbearing. It honestly became more of a sub-plot than an honest attempt at inclusion and representation. Half of the discussion was unnecessary and added length to an already too long book. Not only that, but it didn't even teach anything new, and the breakdown of how the corporations use it seemed almost mocking of the use of neopronouns.

In addition to the subplot of pronouns, was the unexpected and frankly unwanted alien romance subplot. I support monster lovers. To each their own, but I also feel like it specifically should be something I know about and am aware is at least a possibility going into a book. When the MC and her wife start talking about having feelings for the spider alien it felt totally out of no where and ungrounded. Then when it came to actually talking to him about wanting to have a relationship, the entire discussion didn't help me feel like any of the feelings were believable. It was clinical and detached. Even the sex scene just made me extremely uncomfortable and felt more like I was reading a text book than anything interesting or fun.

I enjoyed the elements of the alien civilization that put a clear emphasis on being matrilineal, and how children were involved in most important discussions. The overall discussions of child-rearing were very interesting and were really the heart of learning more about the alien civilization. But there was so much extraneous detail of other aspects of the future Earth that the author felt the NEED to over-explain to the point of exhaustion that I couldn't even enjoy the fun parts of reading an alien contact sci-fi. Then the entire trial at the end was just draining and tacked on that I was honestly TIRED by the time it was over and the book was nearing its end.

Overall, so much promise that fell so short because of a lack of editing and an almost disingenuous attempt at inclusion. Very disappointing.

I absolutely loved the first contact aspect of this novel. The aliens were so wonderfully "other" and I enjoyed learning how they differed from humans, both biologically and culturally. If this had remained a larger aspect of the story, this easily could have been a four star read.

Gender identity is a very big aspect of this story. I appreciate the importance of representation in stories but I found that these discussions frequently halted the narrative, quickly feeling very repetitive.

I did not expect this story to be such a family drama. So much of the story revolved around the protagonist's child and coparents. There were so many mentions of nursing. Since many. Then during the climax of the story, the characters are looking for diapers. I know that others mothers look for representation in fiction, but not me. Or at least not these aspects of motherhood.

If you are looking for a soft scifi novel surrounding topics of parenthood and gender identity, then you may find more in this novel.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review.

An interesting take on first contact, and the narrator did an excellent job, but the larger story just wasn't for me.

I enjoyed this book very much. While the events in the book were often not quite edge-of-your-seat exciting, the author maintained dramatic tension throughout the work. I think any fan of science fiction would likely enjoy this book, but that it would especially appeal to those with an interest in culture development, communication, and gender studies. I was never bored and found the detailed interactions between the various cultures to be intriguing. This is a rich, imaginative, and vivid book.